What Can I Say To Convince You?
In this lesson students will explore FDR’s New Deal program. They will then put themselves in the position of being strategists for a presidential campaign today. In doing so they will need to consider: what is important to the citizens of South Carolina at this time; can any of the components of the New Deal program be of assistance; how can these new ideas be presented in a campaign speech?
Lesson Created By: Hannah Baker
Lesson Partners: Writing Improvement Network (WIN)
Essential Question
Which of FDR’s programs would South Carolina residents have supported and why?
Grade(s):
- 8
Subject(s):
Recommended Technology:
- Internet access, computer, tablets/iPads, or personal devices
- Applications for sharing work with fellow group/class members (Padlet, Evernote, etc.)
- Applications for drawing, creating graphics (Apple Notes, One Note, Adobe Sketch, etc.)
- Applications for presentation (PowerPoint, Prezi, etc.)
Other Instructional Materials or Notes:
Lesson Progression
Step 1 -
Before class prepare “entrance tickets” for students on each write a number and the name of one of the focus groups. For this portion students will employ the jigsaw approach – breaking up into small groups, each group researching the element of the New Deal on their ticket
Group Assignments
Group 1 – PWA (Public Works Administration); WPA (Works Progress Administration); CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)
Group 2 – Social Security Act; NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act)
Group 3 – Santee-Cooper Project; Rural Electrification Act
Group 4 – (AAA) Agricultural Adjustment Act; FSA (Farm Security Agency)
Group 5 – James F. Byrnes; Mary McLeod Bethune; additional prominent South Carolinians
Step 2 –
Provide students with the following background set up:
It’s 1932, the United States is struggling to recover from the Great Depression and an election year. The current president, President Herbert Hoover (Republican) is not popular (remind them of what they learned about the depression era) and is running against (Democrat) Franklin Delano Roosevelt – FDR. FDR’s campaign song is “Happy Days Are Here Again” and he is running on a plan called the New Deal.
Tell students they are going to break into their assigned groups to research those elements of the New Deal. . In studying programs of the New Deal each group will need answer four main questions:
- What is the purpose of the program?
- Did the program fulfill its purpose?
- What has been the long term effect of this program?
- Is this program still available today?
- How can the program (still in existence or eliminated) be altered for today’s time?
Have groups take notes (paper or electronic) during this portion.
Step 3 –
Have students with even number tickets form one group, odd number tickets form another group. Using the jigsaw approach, have students in each group share their findings.
Step 4 –
Still in their even/odd groups, students will compare life of 1932 with life today. What made FDR’s election ideas and campaign appealing to voters? What ideas for change would be appealing to voters today? What techniques are used by candidates to sway possible voters to their side?
Step 5 –
Have students go to the campaign speech given by FDR during his Presidential campaign. This speech was given in Georgia, how does he appeal to the Georgia voters? Tell students they are going to return to their even/odd groups.
They will now become members of FDR’s campaign team. Each stop he makes, his speech has had specific relevance to the audience and location. Taking what you know about South Carolina at this time and the components of the proposed New Deal, write a speech that will convince South Carolina voters to vote for FDR, making sure the speech strongly references New Deal programs that benefitted South Carolinians.
Step 6 –
Each group will choose one member to assume the role of FDR and deliver their prepared speeches. Have groups share the elements and information they learned from the small group research to create their speech.
How will students share their work?
Students will deliver their prepared speeches to other class members. If possible, invite other social studies classes and/or school staff members to listen to the speeches and share what parts of the prepared speeches would motivate them to vote for FDR.
Teacher Notes
Extensions/Differentiation:
- Create a campaign for the New Deal including posters, bumper stickers, campaign slogans, etc.
- Create a New Deal for today’s times – what programs would be beneficial today?
Campaign Speech – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Campaign Speech - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Atlanta, Ga. - October 24, 1932
Knowitall.org - Mary McLeod Bethune | SC Hall of Fame
This profile will show how Mary Jane McLeod Bethune, born to poor cotton farmers in Mayesville, S.C., would brilliantly start a school of her own with just $1.50, which became an internationally recognized university. Dr. Bethune influenced important African American political leaders of the day, created a “Black Cabinet”, and was an advisor to several U.S. Presidents, among them, President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
View ResourceKnowitall.org - Mary Mcleod Bethune | Idella Bodie's SC Women
The Story of Mary McLeod Bethune is the story of one woman’s struggle to gain equality for herself and her students. Mary grew up in rural South Carolina and became a teacher. She started with nothing and ended up being an advisor to a President!
View ResourceMedia Literacy Clearinghouse
THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN ELECTIONS:
HELPING STUDENTS UNDERSTAND MEDIA’S INFLUENCE
Frank Baker, Media Educator ©2007
The Living New Deal (States and Cities: South Carolina New Deal Projects)
Specific links showing how New Deal programs contributed many aspects and buildings/places in South Carolina.
View ResourceThe New Deal and the Modernization of the South
Inspired by the parallels between the 1930's and the current economic crisis, debate now rages over the economic successes and failures of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. One dimension of the historical record has been largely absent from these discussions: the impact of federal programs on the economy of the South.This article draws upon recent research to make the case that the New Deal era constituted a turning point in regional economic development, a watershed if not an instant revolution.The survey proceeds in two parts.In the first,I assemble evidence on regional economic modernization,with no reference to the issues of racial and class justice that have dominated most of the historical literature as the gauge of regional transformation.The second part considers the implications of this modernization for the racial and political order of the South.
View ResourcePhotographs from the Farm Security Administration (New Deal), 1937-1939
Links to photographs to show various viewpoints during the Great Depression:
-A Sharecropper Boy
-The Brown family and their home
-The Home of a Negro
-The Wife and Mother of a Sharecropper
Putting People Back to Work
Out of work Americans needed jobs. To the unemployed, many of whom had no money left in the banks, a decent job that put food on the dinner table was a matter of survival. Roosevelt believed the national government could jump start a dry economy by pouring in a little federal money.
View ResourceStandards
- 8.5.P Analyze the transformation of South Carolina’s economy from the Great Depression to its current economic diversification.
- This indicator was designed to promote inquiry into the devastation of the Great Depression and the impact of the New Deal on a largely agricultural South Carolina. This indicator was also designed to foster inquiry into the economic diversification between World War II and the present, to include tourism, global trade and industry, and the maintenance of military bases.
- I Inquiry-Based Literacy Standards
- I.3 Construct knowledge, applying disciplinary concepts and tools, to build deeper understanding of the world through exploration, collaboration, and analysis.
- I.3.2 Examine historical, social, cultural, or political context to broaden inquiry.
- I.3.3 Gather information from a variety of primary and secondary sources and evaluate sources for perspective, validity, and bias.
- I.3.4 Organize and categorize important information, revise ideas, and report relevant findings.
- I.3 Construct knowledge, applying disciplinary concepts and tools, to build deeper understanding of the world through exploration, collaboration, and analysis.
- RI.LCS.8 Interpret and analyze the author’s use of words, phrases, text features, conventions, and structures, and how their relationships shape meaning and tone in print and multimedia texts.
- RI.LCS.11 Analyze and critique how the author uses structures in print and multimedia texts to craft informational and argument writing.
- RI.LCS.11.1 Analyze the impact of text features and structures on authors’ similar ideas or claims about the same topic.
- RI.LCS.11.2 Analyze and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced.
- W.MCC Meaning, Context, and Craft
- W.MCC.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
- W.MCC.1.1 Write arguments that:
- W.MCC.1.1.a introduce claims, acknowledge and distinguish the claims from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically;
- W.MCC.1.1.b use relevant information from multiple print and multimedia sources;
- W.MCC.1.1.c support claims using valid reasoning and a variety of relevant evidence from accurate, verifiable sources;
- W.MCC.1.1.d use an organizational structure that provides unity and clarity among claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence;
- W.MCC.1.1.i provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument.
- W.MCC.1.1 Write arguments that:
- W.MCC.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
- C Communication
Assessments
Assessment Rubric:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BaZWDCJnZjbq7319WrCpUqiKwXF4LKP8cvpx...